I can’t even remember when there’s been so much oil and gas news in the news in such a brief time span – like the last 2 weeks. And because the media has been too busy covering the Zimmerman trial and the San Francisco plane crash, and throw into the mix the 4th of July, you might have missed some of that news.

The biggest story is the Quebec oil train derailment on July 6. Even though the story has received some media coverage it’s not getting the kind of wall-to-wall coverage any other comparable disaster would have received, like say, a plane crash. Goes to show you how the oil & gas industry is able to easily suppress news that brings up serious safety issues and makes them look bad.

Why is it interesting to study drilling rig statistics? The answer is that drilling rig activity indicates the future direction of the oil and gas industry.

In a short article without comments Oil & Gas Journal assert that the number of drilling platforms currently drilling for oil and gas in the USA has decreased by 12 units to 1749. Compared with the number of rigs one year ago, 2008 rigs, that is a decrease of 13%. A somewhat more detailed study shows that 51 rigs are drilling offshore, 429 rigs are drilling for gas and 1316 for oil while the rest could not be categorized. Those who are interested in the detailed statistics can visit the website of Baker Hughes Inc. http://investor.shareholder.com/bhi/rig_counts/rc_index.cfm There one can also read that there are 601 rigs in Canada and 1253 rigs currently drilling in the rest of the world. Thus the total number of…

Australia needs more stability in its oil and gas sector under the new government, according to an industry expert.

Kevin Gallagher, managing director of oil and gas contractor Clough, was quoted by The Australian as saying that he hoped prime minister Tony Abbott would bring much-needed confidence to an industry that has been plagued with uncertainty.

“I think one of the things that epitomised the last three or four years in Australia was the uncertainty and the continuous threat or perception of changing legislation and fiscal instability,” he explained.

“In order for Australia to improve its competitiveness on a global basis, and improve the prospects of our organisations to compete internationally, I think we need a period of stability now, fiscal stability, that can encourage investment back to Australia.”

Mr Gallagher was speaking at The Australian’s Path to Prosperity series in Perth last week, as he took part in a…

I was a guest on the Today with Pat Kenny radio show on May 28th, 2013, to discuss Ireland’s management (or mismanagement) of its oil and gas resources. I was debating against David Horgan, MD of Irish exploration company Petrel Resources. Bizarrely, during the debate Pat Kenny suggested there was “a touch of the Luddite” about me, because I favoured renewable energy over fossil fuels (yes, that’s right, not the other way around). You can listen to the item here:Today with Pat Kenny: 28 May 2013